


Teacups and Tomb Raiders

by sincerely_v



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Slow Burn, SuperCorp, accept the timeline, sanvers background but oh so good, tombraider au, we are historians as far as google takes us
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-24 20:00:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16646777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sincerely_v/pseuds/sincerely_v
Summary: The barely acknowledged historian Dr. Danvers and the world renowned archaeologist Dr. Luthor have been rivals for years. Every time that Kara inches towards another great historical discovery, it seems that Lena is already one step ahead. But when a controversial find in Kara’s field of expertise surfaces, Kara and Lena are forced to work together to uncover what might be the most influential discovery of all time -- the truth behind the existence of Kryptonian people. Kara might also learn the truth about her own history. With Alex and Maggie on board, the four race around the world to uncover the complex puzzle before the information falls into the wrong hands. As the pieces gradually start to fall together, Kara and Lena find themselves falling too...





	Teacups and Tomb Raiders

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: The authors’ (sincerely_v and wife) knowledge of anything tomb-related is dubious at best, and mainly informed by half-assed google searches combined with wayyy too much time spent on Tomb Raider/Indiana Jones computer games and/or wikipedia page of the day. Please don’t trust anything that we write. ...Except for the gay stuff. Lots of real life experience with that. :-P

**Present Day: Cambodia**

 

Kara inhaled a slow, deep breath. The wind howled, beating back the tendrils of her hair that had worked free from her ponytail. This far up, a rough gust of wind could be a disaster. _ “Almost there,”  _ Kara thought to herself encouragingly. She pushed up with her right foot, digging her hand deep into an in-cut part of the rock face above her head. Her harness dug into her thighs as she pushed up on her left foot, grabbing the next visible indent in the wall.

Kara was a born climber. She was naturally strong -- so strong that sometimes she even surprised Alex. This was her element. A hundred feet up and only her own body to get her to the top -- or in this case the opening that could lead her to the King’s burial chamber. At least that’s what she was mentally repeating to herself.  _ “You’re good at this. No the rope anchor will not come undone. It’s very secure. You checked it three times.”  _ A gust of wind sent a small fragment of rock flying off the wall past her head. Kara ducked and swallowed hard.  _ “Yeah, this wall is  _ **_very_ ** _ secure.” _

To be fair, the tomb exterior was in amazing condition considering that it was built over 3000 years ago _.  _ The man-made wall was cut right into a mountain the locals had aptly named the Cambodian equivalent of “Mount Behemoth”. The wall was huge. Over two hundred feet tall, and the bottom three quarters of it almost completely smooth, which Kara guessed was why the locals had been so unsuccessful in getting inside. Infrared scanning revealed that the rest of the tomb would have been accessed through an entrance on the other side of the mountain, but rock falls over the years had collapsed all of the inner structure but the one room she was headed for.

The top portion of the wall had in-cut elements that were a set of religious carvings near the small window she was climbing towards. About twenty feet above that window was a huge decorated lip, which stuck out more than 30 feet from the rest of the wall. That damn lip had prevented her from starting at the top and repelling down to the window. She had had no choice but to climb the mountain beforehand and anchor her rope at the top of that lip so she could climb up all the way from the bottom. While the anchor would keep her from falling to her death if she messed up, it meant that if she fell off at any point of the climb, she’d swing so far away from the wall that she’d have to lower herself down and start over.

No pressure.

Kara reached behind her and dipped her right hand into the chalk bag around her waist to soak up the moisture collecting on her palms. She shook her arm out to relieve some of the lactic acid build up from the exertion. After a few seconds of trying to find her next hand hold, she realized she was wasting valuable strength holding her position -- she would have to jump for the bottom edge of the carvings.

“ _ One... two…”  _ On three, Kara lowered herself down so that she was crouched over her feet and shot up with her legs in one powerful motion. Her hands grabbed the carved decals and squeezed hard as the rest of her body rocked slowly into the wall. She scrambled to get a good footing, and finally settled for swinging her leg up and placing her heel on the carvings beside her hand. She used her leg to leverage her body up, grabbing the next bit of carving and going from there.

There -- the rest was easy going, and in a few minutes, Kara finally found herself triumphantly grabbing the edge of the small window and hopping inside. Her heart pounded as she looked around -- equally from her excitement as from the climb. The beam of light coming in from the window illuminated a stone coffin a few feet away, intricately carved in a similar manner to the building’s exterior. “Oh wow.” Kara breathed out-loud. She had thought this room might be close to the king’s chamber, but she didn’t think this was it!

The chamber was just gorgeous. Kara ran her hand along some of the intricate carvings in the wall. There was a large wave that appeared to crash down on a small arrangement of small huts. Over top of them, a man with a long beard and gentle eyes had his hands held out over the waters. She scanned around until she came to the end of the scene where the man appeared to be laid to rest on a bed of ornately drawn flowers. “Just beautiful,” Kara whispered. The king had prayed to their gods day and night to resend the flood. It was only when he died of exhaustion did it stop and the people believed he had given his life for them. The room was a testament to their reverence.  _ This  _ was why she had become a historian. Seeing the history of past civilizations preserved like this. Seeing how they lived. What they hoped for. What they believed in. It was a passion that she had shared with her father when he was alive. She remembered countless hours spent with Jeremiah poured over books, tablets, anything that he could get his hands on to lead to the next great discovery.

Kara relieved her feet from her tight rubber climbing shoes and grabbed her camera and flashlight from the strap around her waist. She carefully started documenting the engravings, her mind furiously translating what she could as she went along. This was exactly what she needed to get the funding to bring a team out here to try and excavate the rest of the tomb. She had been right. This was the kind of discovery that had textbook chapters written about it. The type of discovery that would really put her name down in the history books. It would revolutionize how the world thought of the Angkor Empire. How they thought of their agricultural capabilities. Their religious ceremonies. It would completely…

“ **Son of a…!** ” Kara exclaimed angrily as her thoughts were cut off by her flashlight landing on an inset shelf in the wall beside the King’s coffin. And no, it wasn’t because it housed an amazing artifact that would give the Smithsonian a run for its money.

Sitting on the stone shelf was a damn teacup.

A very modern teacup.

_ “A kind of pretty teacup,”  _ Kara huffed to herself begrudgingly as her fingers traced the gilded golden sunflowers on it. She felt her cheeks get hotter the longer she looked at it. Huffing, she packed up her camera, her notes and yes, the stupid teacup, and set a new anchor for a rope to repel herself down.

“That stupid woman is going to be the death of me.” Kara muttered under her breath. “What a waste of time.” She angrily stepped out of the window and started walking down the side of the wall. “It’s not like I climbed a hundred feet to get here or anything.”

 

* * *

 

A little over a week later, Kara was back in National City. After a couple weeks in a small Cambodian village, the small National City Museum was a sight for sore eyes. It was her second home, and Kara pulled her car into her usual spot with a small smile.

“Yeah, she beat me again, Alex,” Kara huffed into her bluetooth headset. “I hate her. Like actually hate her.”

“You don’t hate her,” Alex scoffed. “You couldn’t hate a fly.”

“Okay, fine, but I’m very, very close to hating her, Alex. This is getting embarrassing. That was  _ my _ find. I traced it all the way back from a tablet that was buried in our archives for over a decade.”

“Look, I gotta go Kara, but I’m really sorry that you got scooped again,” Alex said softly.

“Thanks,” Kara replied. “I love you. Have fun on whatever top secret mission the FBI needs you for next.”

“I will,” Alex laughed. “I love you too. And Kara?” Alex added just as Kara was about to hang up.

“Yeah?”

“Dad would be proud.”

This time, Kara couldn’t suppress a smile as she ended the call. She gathered her briefcase and headed for the museum door.

The new travelling egyptian hieroglyph exhibit was in full swing. Kara was so glad to see the museum buzzing with visitors again. It seemed like they were constantly fighting to find new sources of funding to switch around the exhibits. But who doesn’t love egyptian hieroglyphs?

“That looks like a boob!” A young boy shouted at his sister as she pointed to the sun hieroglyph.  _ “He’s not wrong,”  _ Kara couldn’t think but admit to herself as she laughed. Not that she was sure she’d remember what breasts looked like if she didn’t have two of her own. It had been so long since she’d been on a date that she was pretty sure there were artifacts around here younger than her love life.

Kara shimmied past a line of people waiting to check out the model aztec tomb, pausing only when two young and very stressed parents started yelling at their kids to get down from climbing on the burial sites. The kids were not having it and were jumping around from coffin to coffin. Kara heistated, taking a longing look at the coffee in her hand, before the look on the poor parents’ faces made her take pity and set it down.

“You know,” Kara began, her heels clacking powerfully on the fake stone beneath them as she walked over to the kids. “I really wouldn’t be doing that if I were you.”

The kids paused for a split second before continuing to jump. “Why?” the little girl asked. Kara gave a knowing nod to the parents to keep them from dying of embarrassment. “I’ve got this, don’t worry,” she mouthed.

“Because Aztec tombs are swarming with booby traps.” Kara continues. “Do you know what that means?”

The little girl stopped jumping and gaped at Kara, while even the more rambunctious little boy stopped jumping long enough to look mildly concerned.

“You see, this tomb is meant to preserve the bodies of the rulers of the Aztec people. There is no greater honour than to be in this very room. The Aztecs were smart, and they only wanted the people that were supposed to be in there to be able to get in. So they built a series of traps to kill any intruders.” Kara was getting really into her role of storyteller here. Some of the people in line were even starting to look at her with interest. “You sir,” Kara pointed at the young boy with a wink. “Look at these markings over here.” She gestured to a row of circles lining the walls on either side of a coffin. “What do you see?”

“Circles,” the little boy replied like it was obvious.

Kara shook her head no. “Spikes,” she emphasized the word dramatically, and the little girl beside her gave a satisfying gasp. “That fly out of the wall if you step on the wrong thing.”

The little boy’s eyes got wide and he carefully stepped down from the stone coffin. “How do you know?!”

“How do I know?!” Kara laughed. “How do I know? I’ll show you how I know.” She rolled up the sleeve of her button-up shirt to reveal an impressive scar on her lower arm. “How do you think I got this?! From the very room that this model is based off of.”

The boy gaped at her. “Woah.”

Kara nodded with a smile. “So let me tell you that when I say it’s an honour to be standing in this room, you better believe me that it’s an honour. And so we treat everything here with the utmost respect. Which means we don’t touch. And we _definitely_ don’t jump on Axáyacatl’s coffin. Okay?”

The little boy and girl nodded and Kara beamed at them. “Good. I hope you enjoy the rest of the museum.” Kara grinned at the children's parents as they mouthed a thank you,  grabbed her cup of coffee, and made her way into the employee hallway.

She unlocked her office with her key card and settled into her chair with a sigh. She took a final sip of her coffee before clearing her throat and scrolling through her phone contacts until she found the name she was looking for, and hit dial. Kara scrunched her forehead and scowled in the hopes that it would make her voice sound more authoritative when the other woman answered.

“Dr. Lena Luthor speaking. How may I help you?” A cheery, melodic voice that made Kara blush instantly sounded over the phone.

“I think you know how you can help me, Luthor,” Kara scowled, though the hot blush rising on her cheeks was making it hard for her to keep her voice firm.

“I’m sorry, who’s calling?” Lena replied with a smirk. The brunette would be lying if she said she hadn’t been waiting for this moment all week.

“Like you don’t know,” Kara grumbled.

“Dr. Danvers, is that you?” Lena teased. “Did you get my present?”

“One word. _How?_ How did you beat me there? By my calculations I had at least a two day start on you. I connected with the locals, I sweet talked the Cambodian border patrol officers, which means I lost my nicest watch _and_ my compass. I ripped a hole in my best hiking boots getting stuck in a bear trap, and all along the way there was absolutely no sight of you or your bodyguard.”

Lena couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of Kara hiking through the woods with half of a boot and no compass. She would have given almost anything to have seen it. 

Kara swallowed hard as the melodic sound came through the speaker.  _ “Keep it together, Kara,”  _ she reminded herself.

“Okay, I may have taken my private helicopter.” Lena admitted. “And Maggie is more of a friend than a bodyguard, really.”

Kara rolled her eyes at that one. “Of  _ course _ you did. It must be nice to have so much money to make up for your lack of skill.”

Lena leaned forward with a smug smile on her face. “If I recall correctly, my skills are what allowed me to disable the floortraps in Peru, though I did appreciate you leaving flares and the passive aggressive note letting me know they were there.”

“Well, I didn’t want you to  _ die _ , and I figured money wouldn’t save you from evisceration,” Kara bit back.

Lena grinned. “Remind me, who almost got eviscerated in the south of Greece?”

“You’re thinking of Prague and I _knew_ the guillotine was there!”

“The blond hair left behind would suggest otherwise.”

“Argh,” Kara huffed. “Okay.” she took a deep breath. “...What do you want?”

“What do I want?” Lena repeated teasingly, pursing her lips. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what do you want in exchange for ensuring that National City Museum has a claim to that site?” Kara said firmly. “I will...concede that you got there first, but we really need a win right now.”

Lena could sense Kara’s tone getting serious and the smile fell from her face a little. “Is the museum okay?”

“We’re okay for now, but government funding keeps getting cut. We’re relying more and more on our ticket sales and it’s hard to draw in a crowd when you have nothing new to show them.”

“I understand,” Lena nodded. “Competition for grants in the archaeology department is getting worse every year. It’s hard to imagine policy makers being so… uncurious about where they came from.”

Kara nodded but remained silent, and Lena hesitated before continuing. “Look, I think we can work something out. Send me what you have on the site and when I finish my report I’ll credit both of our institutions with the find, as deserved. We’ll both get our groups shared access and your museum will have claim to the first unveiling of anything that we find during the excavation.”

“And in exchange?” Kara asked suspiciously.

“In exchange, you send me your translation of the Kryptonian artifact scan that should be showing up in your mailbox any minute now.”

“Hold on a second, you actually sent me a scan of a Kryptonian artifact I haven’t seen yet and you’re not worried I’m going to scoop you?” Kara asked in disbelief. “You do know I am the world’s foremost expert in Kryptonian translation, right? As in, one of the only people alive who actually understands Kryptonian grammar and syntax.”

“Oh trust me, I am very aware of how skilled a translator you are,” Lena replied in a voice that gave Kara goosebumps. “The reason why I’m asking for your help is that I didn’t send you that scan. It’s an open call for investigation sent to many of the world’s prominent experts in history and archeology. I’ve been asking around and no one can seem to track down where it came from, but the consensus is that it’s the real deal. And it looks  _ big _ . I’m asking you for this because I need your help to get started.”

Kara bit her lip thinking about how perfect this opportunity was for her. If she could get her hands on something Kryptonian, the museum would have funding for  _ years _ . “I translate the scan and then that’s it. We go our separate ways and you get my institution access to that site with the deserved credit?”

“The translation and we’re done. Just like usual, it’s a race to finish.” Lena agreed eagerly.

“Fine.” Kara replied. I’ll send over what I can.

“Lovely,” Lena replied. “Well  _ Dr. Danvers _ ...” The way that Lena spoke her name made Kara unconsciously shift in her chair. “Until then, I hope everything goes well at the museum. Say hi to Alex for me.”

“Say hi to Maggie for me,” Kara replied.

“Oh and, Dr. Danvers?”

“Yes?”

“May the best woman win.”

Kara hung up the phone a roll of her eyes and her face just as red as it had been at the start.  _ “She’s insufferable,” _ Kara thought to herself.

Lena Luthor was National City University’s star archaeologist. Author of two books. Philanthropist. The woman had endless media opportunities. And endless funding, if not from the university she was affiliated with, from the enterprise she had built as an entrepreneur and inventor. It was absolutely infuriating how good she seemed to be at everything that she tried.

Kara opened her briefcase and carefully took out the porcelain teacup from the Cambodian site. She delicately placed it on the top of her bookcase, where six similar teacups had already been lined up.

She sat back in her chair, looked at the teacups, and sighed.

Yep.

Lena Luthor was brilliant, gorgeous, and way, way, way out of Kara Danvers’ league.

  
  


* * *

 

**Flashback: Two years prior, Giza**

 

Kara batted at a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead impatiently. She was so close she could  _ feel _ the Eye of Horus in her hand. Its weight. Its shine. According to inscriptions in the main chamber of the pyramid, the ‘eye’ was a ruby the size of a golfball. It was find that would put her institution back on the map as a big player.

_ “Calm down,”  _ Kara instructed herself.  _ “You have to survive this first.” _

She wearily examined the walls of the narrow hallway leading to the King’s burial room, where the eye was traditionally kept. Unlike the main sections of the pyramid, this portion wasn’t designed to be servant accessible.

_ “Which means...”  _ Kara tossed a heavy rock into the middle of the hallway. Large pole spikes shot out from the indentations on the wall with a mighty thud. “Traps,” Kara exhaled a deep breath. “Lots and lots of traps.”

The spikes slowly retracted back into the wall. Kara reached down for another large rock, tossing it into the hallway so that she could make a mental note of where the spikes originated from in the wall. They came out from the wall in clusters, but there was a small gap where there were no spikes halfway down the hallway, about five feet away.  _ “I just need to get to there,”  _ Kara realized.

When the spikes had receded a second time, Kara turned around and backtracked as far as she could to give herself adequate running distance. She took a deep breath, counted herself down from three and sprinted up to the edge of the hallway, jumping just before her feet hit the first pressure plate.

The momentum from her run carried her just barely enough to hit her target. As she landed in a crouch, she felt her weight sink into the panels on the floor. A terrifying gust of air blew her hair back as spikes shot out just in front of and behind her.  **Thunk.**

She forcibly exhaled as the spikes sunk back into the wall. Halfway there.

Another countdown from three and Kara sprung forward on her feet, careful not to shift her weight before leaving the ground. She flew through the air, so close to the hallway exit that she could see a glimpse of the red ruby before her feet landed.

As she landed, the feeling and sound of her feet sinking into the floor made her heart drop -- she hadn’t quite made it. Kara desperately dropped into a roll, carrying her momentum through her body to push herself forward just a few inches more. As she did so, one of the spikes clipped the side of her leg, barely enough to draw blood but more than enough to let her know how close she had gotten to being impaled.

Kara tumbled into the throne room coated in sweat and her face-smudged with dirt and mud. The spikes sealing the hallway behind her shot back into the wall with a solid “thunk”, as if they had never been there at all. She panted heavily as she stood up, taking a step forward as she looked victoriously over her shoulder.  _ “Easy as…” _

**Thunk.**

_ “Seriously?!”  _ Kara thought as her foot triggered another trap. She had no time to react as the floor beneath her suddenly disappeared. Her stomach dropped as she plummeted fifteen feet into a pit that was not there a few moments ago. Her feet hit the ground hard and she was barely able to bend her legs to absorb some of the shock from her landing.

It was a painful landing, but at least nothing was broken. She was lucky enough that there hadn’t been spikes awaiting her at the bottom. On the other hand, if there had been spikes, at last Kara would have had something to use to help herself get back out of the pit if she had survived. The pit was completely bare, with stone walls so smooth that Kara couldn’t have climbed out of if she tried.

She evaluated her options and none of them were ideal. She had a rope in her bag. If she could lasso the altar, she could climb out using that. But the angle was all wrong for throwing the rope. She’d have to throw it blindly and hope that she made her mark. “Well, it’s better than calling Alex and having to ask her to bail me out,” Kara murmed to herself as she began to tie a knot into the end of the rope. She’d never live it down.

One hundred and twenty-seven rope tosses later, it was starting to look like humiliation was actually a much better option than she had first assumed. Kara swung the rope with tired arms and watched as it disappeared over the top of the pit.

She gave it a small tug, and, for the first time, it tugged back, giving her a glimmer of hope that she had hit her target. She tugged harder with a hopeful smile that promptly disappeared as the rope fell back into the pit, hitting her in the face on the way down. “Oof!”

Kara groaned and sat down in defeat, resting her back against the cool stone wall and closing her eyes.

**Thunk.**

_ “What was that?!”  _ Kara’s eyes shot open as she heard the familiar sound of the spike from the trap she had evaded. She was too far down to see the hallway.

Another thunk was followed by the sound of some kind of machine clicking and locking into place, and some light footsteps coming down the hallway.

_ “How did they disable the traps?!”  _ Kara wondered, her heart pounding even faster when she realized that not only was she  **still** trapped in a pit, but she was instants away from coming face to face with someone whose main goal was probably to sell the eye of horus to the highest bidder. “ _ Probably a mercenary or thug for hire or…” _

“Well, what do we have here?” A woman’s voice with a high brow american accent sounded out from above. The woman stepped into view, peering down at Kara from the edge of the pit. She wore form fitting brown pants, with two hip holsters holding some bizarre contraptions that Kara had never seen before.

Kara swallowed hard as she came face to face with a dark haired, green eyed woman about her own age.  _ “...or the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen?” _ Kara finished her thought from earlier. That didn’t stop her from raising her hands to show that she was unarmed. “Uh… hi there.” Kara managed to get out. “This looks really bad, but I’m Dr. Kara Danvers. I’m a historian working for the National City Museum and I’m just investigating this site. I got past the spike traps but I miscalculated my landing and...well.. I’m sure you get it. Any chance that you can help me out of here?” Maybe it was the fact that she was trapped in a pit, or maybe it was the fact that the smile on the woman’s face was slowly growing as she rambled on, but Kara felt her face start to flush more and more.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Danvers. I’m Lena Luthor.” Lena looked down at the flustered woman in front of her and couldn’t help but think that it was the most endearing thing she had ever seen. After taking a moment to look the other woman up and down for weapons, she continued, “Look, it sounds like you have good intentions, but unfortunately I have no way of verifying your story right now. How do I know you aren’t going to sell the eye for your own personal gain?”

“W..wait, did you say Luthor?” Kara replied, her blue eyes widening. “Dr. Lena Luthor? The head archeologist at the National Institute of Technology?!” Kara sputtered. “The woman responsible for discovering the burial of King Richard the Third under a London parking lot? And the warrior’s tomb in Pylos?  And… you know… not to mention what some consider to be the eighth wonder of the world…” She trailed off, realizing she had been talking for too long. “I’ve been following your work for years… but I just never knew that you were so...” Kara started to gesture with her hands towards Lena before realizing that she had no way of finishing that sentence.

“That I was so...what?” Lena replied with a raised eyebrow and an amused smile.

“So… young…” Kara replied after a pause that was longer than she would have liked.

“Well, I appreciated the praise, but I really can’t take most of the credit behind those finds. I have a fantastic team.” Lena replied with a laugh. The blonde haired woman certainly did seem to be quite familiar with her work. Lena decided to give her a chance to prove her identity. “What’s your specialty?”

Kara hesitated only for a moment before replying in as confident a voice as she could muster, “Kryptonian iconography and language.”

Now it was Lena’s turns to widen her eyes. “Kryptonian?!” she exclaimed with a small smirk, before stepping back from the ledge and starting to walk to the altar. “You almost had me Ms. Danvers, but you’ve given yourself away. No acclaimed historian believes those conspiracy theories anymore.”

“They’re  **not** conspiracy theories. That’s a common misconception.” Kara replied with a sinking heart. Lena’s response was one that Kara had heard so many times before. But to hear it from someone whose work she admired so much stung more than usual. “Look, I can prove it to you if you just talk to me…”

“I’m sorry, truly, but I’ve got a ride waiting for me.” Lena replied.

Kara could see the top of Lena’s head as she reached the altar and took a moment to examine it. “Just beautiful.” Kara heard Lena murmur.

Make no mistake, Lena Luthor was very aware of the potential death that could await her if she removed the ruby without disabling the trap put in place first. There was a pressure plate underneath, linked to another pit. Whether or not that pit had spikes at the bottom was a bit of a gamble, given the traps laid out in the rest of the tomb. As Lena looked at the ruby and back at the young woman in the pit below her, a small smile crept onto her face. 

_ “Well, Ms. Danvers,”  _ she thought to herself.  _ “Let’s see what kind of woman you really are.”  _ She made a show of reaching slowly for the ruby, giving Kara a chance to intervene _ if  _ she was going to.

“Don’t just grab it!” Kara yelped. “Are you crazy?! There’s a pressure plate.”

“Ah, I see it now.” Lena replied with a smile.  _ “Well, even if you are an imposter, at least you’re a noble one.”  _ “Linked to another one of those pits beneath the altar. Thank you. I’d say you were good at this if you weren’t... well...”

“Yeah, wouldn’t want us to _both_ be stuck down here.” Kara huffed. “Look, you need to estimate…”

“The density of ruby is approximately… 4 grams per cubic centimeter.” Lena cut Kara off. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a hand-held device that Kara had never seen before, using it to scan the ruby somehow. She would later find out it was one of Lena’s own inventions. “And at a size of 24.7 cubic centimeters, I need something about...” she paused and Kara watched as she mentally calculated the result, “98.8 grams to replace it.”

Lena shuffled around in her bag and took out a small scale. “You don’t have anything of that approximate weight do you?” she asked Kara with a raised eyebrow. Kara gave her a look that suggested she wouldn’t help her even if she did. “Ah,” Lena murmured, taking out a plastic teacup she had stored in her bag for travelling. “Let’s see how much this weighs.”

The brunette placed the teacup on a small digital scale she had stashed in her seemingly endless backpack. “There were go,” Lena murmured with a satisfied nod. Ever so delicately, she began to pick up the ruby with her left hand, lowering the teacup with her right hand as she went. The moment of suspense felt like it went on for minutes, when Lena finally removed the ruby triumphantly. The smile on her face made Kara’s stomach clench, and she told herself if was  _ only _ because she watching another woman walk away with  _ her _ ruby. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the smile was the prettiest smile Kara had ever laid eyes on.

“Now, for obvious reasons I can’t get you out of there right this moment. I’d pay someone to come back for you, but there’s always the chance they’d run off with the money.

“You can’t just  _ leave _ me here!” Kara exclaimed.

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it,” Lena replied, eyes sparkling. “I’ll tell you what.” She reached back into her endless backpack and pulled out a collapsible ladder with a metal anchor at one end. “I’m going to leave my ladder at the rim of this pit, with a small charge on the other side linked to a remote detonator. When I get far enough away, I’ll detonate the charge, which will knock the ladder in and you can get yourself out. How does that sound?”

“I mean, if you want my honest opinion, it sounds a little crazy,” Kara replied. Brilliant, yes. Sane, not so much.  “Look, I have a PhD in history, not martial arts. I’m not going to attack you if you just toss the ladder down now.”

“I’m sorry, but in my line of work you can never be too careful.” Lena replied with a small shrug.

“For the last time, we’re in the  _ same  _ line of work.” Kara huffed.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Ms. Danvers.” Lena drawled. “But I’m afraid I’m going to have to take this with me,” Lena waved the gigantic ruby at Kara from above. “If you are who you say you are, you can rest assured that after being studied in my lab it will wind up in a museum, and not on the black market somewhere.”

And just like that, the brunette strolled out of the tomb like she owned the place with a cocky grin. 

The last thing Kara heard from her was a call over her shoulder.

“You’re more than welcome to keep the teacup, Ms. Danvers.”

 

* * *

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Hit up @lyook with any questions, comments, or concerns (also ideas for historical hijinks). I will send them on to the other author (my lovely wife)


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